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1975 Maserati Merak [Tipo 122]

1975 Maserati Merak [Tipo 122] in Top Gear, Non-fiction TV, 2002-2015 Ep. 7.04

Class: Cars, Coupé — Model origin:

1975 Maserati Merak [Tipo 122]

Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase

Comments about this vehicle

Author	Message
antp ◊ 2006-05-19 21:04	Used in the "£10,000 supercar" challenge
stronghold ◊ 2006-07-19 16:04	I laughed my head-off when Clarkson found out this was Not an SS ..but a standard merak ...which as it turned out ..had been poorly repaired (..as it performed so badly on the Castle Comb race track...they took the three cars they had brought ..to a rolling road ..to test the BHP. The Dino (Ferrari)308 GT4 ..which was originally sold with 255bhp ...was now rated at 194.! the lamborghini Urraco ...started life with 220bhp...and was now down to 117.! (..lost 103bhp over the years.!) and the merak ... with 190bhp when new ...was now giving a figure of 80bhp.!! (what a joke ... that's the same as the cheapest new Ford focus 1.4..!) ...No wonder the Stig's lap with a Diesel Astra was faster than all the old italian supercars as tested on that day.!
Silverstone ◊ 2006-07-19 16:05	...and the engine exploded!
stronghold ◊ 2006-07-19 16:09	Yep... their overall verdict - don't buy second-hand supercars! -- Last edit: 2011-06-27 00:00:15 (G-MANN)
Junkman ◊ 2006-07-19 16:25	stronghold wrote and the merak ... with 190bhp when new ...was now giving a figure of 80bhp.!! For Clarkson even that is vastly overpowered.
J-2 ◊ 2006-07-21 03:05	The plate describes itself... "JOKe"
Skid ◊ 2008-07-01 02:16	I wonder if it was the same as with the Mustang GT500, where they only tested the rear wheel horsepower and then concluded that it wasn't making the correct amount, despite the fact that all bhp ratings are measured at the crank.
Murf32 ◊ 2008-09-19 22:47	Despite buying this car, I felt bad for Jezza. I kept thinking of how hard the owner must've been laughing when he watched the show, thinking how much of a pilluk Jeremy must've felt. Researched the car, and it seemed pretty good, I bet he'd (Jeremy) would've done better if the Merak he bought was in much better tip.
G-MANN ◊ 2011-06-27 00:02	The vehicle details for JOK 229N are: Date of Liability 01 06 2006 Date of First Registration 05 06 1975 Year of Manufacture 1975 Cylinder Capacity (cc) 2965CC Fuel Type Petrol Vehicle Status Unlicensed Vehicle Colour RED
TheHeartbreakKid15 ◊ 2015-11-21 21:35	Not an SS version.
San ◊ 2026-03-27 22:47	Unlike the Dino and Urraco, the Merak had an much bleaker ending. After filming completed it was sold off and listed on eurospares for "available spares" (in which it was broken up) eurospares wrote Mileage: 55,707 MILES Year: 1976 Transmission: Manual Driver Side: Left Hand Drive Interior Black Velour (red stitching) Exterior red Notes The Maserati Merak featured on the 2005/2006 Christmas edition of BBC Top Gear Show. The engine bottom end was destroyed. (Link to "www.eurospares.co.uk") ExhaustValve wrote Another member of the Merak Registry asked the last known buyer of the car (Eurospares). They said they scrapped the car themselves many years ago. Eurospares buys damaged or unrestorable Ferarris/Maseratis/Lambos from insurance companies or owners, they strip them down for spare parts that they later sell and scrap the rest of the car. They document the cars they break for spare parts on their site, under the "Cars breaking for spares" section, at the bottom you can see the Merak featured in TG. It also might had been a legit SS (Which would not surprising since they lied about the Urraco condition) TGwiki wrote Viewers have speculated about the service history scene when Jeremy discovered the SS badge, assuming it had been added onto a base model. However, others have pointed out that his Merak looked like the SS model with the black bonnet grill, three spoke steering wheel, and a driver-orientated dashboard (as seen in the pictures of the Merak after the episode was filmed). Additionally, the section of the service history Jeremy was referring to included repairs consistent with collision damage, among other things, would necessitate replacing the badge. Thus, it is possible that the Merak's previous owner had its original SS badge replaced and included this in the service history, making the trio believe that the Merak wasn't an SS model. If this were indeed the case, then the ailing car only had barely over a third of its original horsepower.

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